A total of 61 complaints was made to the Garda Complaints Board by the McBrearty family and friends over a four-year period, and none of them was upheld, the Morris tribunal was told yesterday.
The first complaints were made in the aftermath of the arrest of various members of the family for questioning about the death of Mr Richie Barron. However, they were not forwarded to the Complaints Board by the local superintendent, Supt John Fitzgerald.
Supt Fitzgerald had explained that he did not view the letters of complaint from the McBreartys' solicitors as intended for the board, but rather as "putting down markers" in the event of further proceedings, Mr Anthony Barr, counsel for the tribunal, said.
When the complaints were received by the board in October 1997, a number of them were dealt with by Supt Carey from Mayo, who prepared a report for the chief executive of the board in November 1998. However, at its meeting the following May, the board decided to defer consideration of all the McBrearty complaints pending the outcome of District Court proceedings and the completion of the Carty inquiry. In October and November 2001, 41 outstanding complaints were withdrawn by the complainants. In his letter withdrawing the complaints, Mr Kenneth Smyth of Binchy's solicitors said:
"Our clients have lost all confidence in the capacity of the Garda Complaints Board to conduct a competent and independent investigation of their complaints. If the board had acted in a timely fashion, our clients have no doubt they would have been spared years of oppression."
In 27 of the complaints examined by the complaints board, no offence or breach of discipline by a garda was found, 19 were deemed inadmissible, 10 resulted in a stalemate because the investigating officer was not acceptable to the McBreartys, in three cases representations were sought from relevant gardaí and two were not investigated.
The complaints included that Mr McBrearty snr had been interrogated despite a doctor's letter advising against it; that Mr McBrearty jnr had been assaulted while in custody and that an attempt had been made to "set up" Mr Mark McConnell through Mr Bernard Conlon, who was paid to do so; allegations of perjury by gardaí concerning the existence of documents; and various instances of alleged harassment and abuse.
"Where there was a conflict between the complainants' version and that of the gardaí, the investigating officer invariably preferred that put forward by the gardaí," said Mr Barr. "The chief executive agreed with the investigating officer in nearly all these cases."
The tribunal would have to consider whether the current system for dealing with complaints against the gardaí should be improved or replaced altogether.